This thoughtfully designed home in Jackson, Wyoming, was designed by Stephen Dynia Architecture for Alice Cornell. Other than possibly the bamboo flooring, low-E glass, natural materials, and long-lasting standing seam metal roof, I’m not aware of any materials or elements that qualify or disqualify this home as being "green." It hasn’t been certified or anything, but the design is smart and efficient, relying on abundant natural lighting and thorough consideration for space.

How about kicking out a shout to the newly established blog by EcoSteel? I was emailing with EcoSteel’s Kelvin Findlay about their new projects and the blog came up. So I start looking through the first few posts and, of course, this Venice Live/Work home caught my eye. I mean, how can it not? Apparently the home is ready to go in California and EcoSteel is bidding out the contractor work at the moment.

I really like the homes featured on Zero Energy Designs’ portfolio page. One home in particular, the TechVille Concept Home, caught my eye. It’s strikingly modern and absolutely incredible. It’s the kind of you home you see in movies … except it’s off-grid, healthy, water-efficient, and super smart. ZED designed this 4500 sf concept home as the first of two thousand planned residences in a modern village in Akodo Ise, Nigeria. TechVille has passive and active cooling, PV system, on demand hot water, air exchange system, dehumidification system, low- and no-VOC materials, abundant natural light, rainwater capture, greywater system, and smart home technology.

Remember earlier this week when we talked about the Margarido House, you know that posh, modern home that’s about to be the first LEED-H Platinum home in Northern California? Well, the always entertaining Sally Kuchar of SallyTV has just posted these videos and we thought it’d be fun to share. You might know Sally from her recent work designing the Silicon Valley Dwell Nexthouse, but she’s also a regular contributor to Apartment Therapy SF and MoCo Loco. I can’t help but watch these videos and think about the endless possibilities presented by thoughtful design and modern green materials.

I’m dedicating this article to all the traditionalist readers out there — I must admit, though, I’m seriously hesitant about the design here, but I know some of you love this style. What I love, however, is the idea that green homes and communities can be zero energy. That’s what Solar Verde is all about. Solar Verde is a planned community of 20 homes and the developer claims its the first development east of the Rocky Mountains to offer a roof-top photovoltaic system as a basic design feature. Homes come with a 4 kW solar PV system made with SOLARSAVE roof shingles. As you can tell, the developer finished the first two model homes last July for this south Chicago green community.

The Margarido House is on its way to being the first home the nation that's both LEED-H certified and GreenPoint rated. It's also aiming to be the first custom home in Northern California to be LEED-H Platinum certified. The ~4600 sf home is still waiting on Platinum certification, but it's important to note that because of it's large size, the homeowners had to pursue drastic green measure to get into Platinum territory. And they did quite well, actually, building a home that's 55% more efficient than California's Title 24 energy standards. Check out this list of green features: